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It has been more than one year since Simona left us, and we have all missed her so much. It was the time when everyone felt that she was going to stay forever that she had to jump in front of a moving vehicle. You know that from the earlier posts, as well as the posts on my social media that Simona has left the big impact, that much of an impact which have spawned so many blog posts as well social media posts in a small amount of time, along with those photos which are so much in number, filling up the hard drive.

There is something about the one cat that was the favourite of everyone in the neighbourhood. Her impact was so much that people wanted to wait in the queue to feed her – everyone surely misses her on their legs; there is no longer the cute little kitty hug, or the attempt to get into the house before you do. She was the skilled warrior who were catching the squirrels and rats along with regular murder of spiders, cockroaches and lizards. There was also the rumour that she could catch a few snakes, but the same couldn’t be practiced without the presence of a real snake.

Hello, I am the new kitten who owns this house. Feed me cat-food and milk 😀

Maybe so many insects cursed her just within a small time period, that she has to leave us – it was into their rather peaceful world that she decided to keep wandering into, very often. She was one cat that changed the world, and for the last year, there have been almost no cat in the neighbourhood except for one or two wandering around very less, including one big cat with one eye. It seemed as if the place was cursed by the cats, for there were only stray dogs around.

It was during one of those days, on a rainy day, to be exact, that this little kitten made its entry, and there was certainly the music of the rain to provide it a dramatic entrance. It had no hesitation to become the star, making enough voice to gather all the attention. It surely needed a home, and more than that, it needed the food and some love. What more can a lonely kitten ask for, on a rainy day with stray dogs wandering all around? Not many other things were on its list for sure.

This is the special pose that we people from tiger family do; watch with attention 😀

We decided to keep feeding her, and she decided to stay at home, outside on the verandah, just inside the table which is there to keep the newspapers and the pieces of cloth to clean the car with. At times, the home is changed to under the car which is the second shelter, but it is not a permanent solution for her, as it is not there all the time. Staying within the limits of home, she would grow up, and lets see how long she decides to live in her new home, and whether there is a change of place coming up when the rain stops at some point. Well, we can’t call her by any other name except Simona, thus making her Simona II or Simona the Second.

Among the creatures that are given special attention, it is the cat that deserves the most, and you understand the same when you look into their eyes – they need you, despite being from the family of many tigers. There are the dogs getting all the attention from one side and the cows from another, which leaves the other creatures without hope. As you should have read about in George Orwell’s Animal Farm, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others” – the same couldn’t get more correct than during these days.

Well, the world does change doesn’t it? Some animals do have the chance to reclaim their spots at some other point of time. Meanwhile, we see that the cats are the real lovers of home, and let them protect your home, because it belongs to them too. Maybe, they would just bless our world because sometimes you look into their eyes, and they just seem to say that we are blessed to have them in our lives. I wouldn’t disagree to the same, if it is exactly what they are thinking.

***The images used in this blog were taken by me on my Asus Zenfone 5 at home. As you read this, take time to read the reviews of the latest Hollywood flicks at your nearest theatres, The Mummy and Wonder Woman.

The title refers to Sunday, and it has been the special day, the one holiday at the end of the week which everyone has been waiting for. Throughout our lives, we have prayed for Sunday to come earlier, especially during the school and college days – Saturdays were mostly holidays, but the threat of the arrival of special classes was eternally present. So, Sunday was the one safe day, and it was the day on which the plans could be made without thinking too much about what else could happen on the day. A nice Sunday treat makes a better Monday!

Plan A: The movie :: Watching a movie is always the best choice. Even as I watch one movie on Friday or the first day of its release itself, there are always more movies around here to give a try. Sunday movie watching program means that there will be also another person to accompany you. Well, it is needed for me because not everyone is that jobless as I am. I try to leave the more family-oriented movie for the Sunday if I go with parents or relatives; otherwise I leave the more fun movie for later, watching the lesser known movie on the first of day of release.

Plan B: The mall :: The malls came here quite late, but the biggest mall in India did come to Kochi in the form of Lulu Mall. With a total of six malls in the city area itself, we are provided with the option to spend the Sundays there in peace. Five out of the six malls actually have the movie option with the multiplexes too. So, it is only fair to spend some time there and the movie option can also add to it. The option of watching three or four movies on one day itself is also there in these malls considering the number of screens available.

A shot on one of the early days of Lulu Mall; isn’t this a nice weekend choice?

Plan C: The beach :: Kochi has no shortage of beaches, as the new tourism initiatives have made it better. A day at the beach will be another nice option, even though the rush will be higher at those more popular beaches like Fort Cochin and Cherai, but then we have those smaller and lesser known beaches which can give us the peaceful experience. I used to try this beach option very often when the friends were around the city, but not that much anymore with almost all of them working far away.

Plan D: The nature :: The closest destinations in the heart of nature includes Paniyeli Poru, Bhoothathankettu, Ezhattumugham, Thommankuthu and many others. As Kerala is blessed with such natural beauty, there is no need to travel much, with beautiful locations exist near and around the river Periyar, the state’s longest river. We friends used to go to some of these places on every Sunday – those were some wonderful days, which can be brought back at some point of time, I hope.

We go through places like this, and we wonder why not choose nature right away?

Plan E: The relations :: There are the relatives who join us on a nice Sunday, but that situation has been brought down a lot to very less impact these days in our case. Not many relatives remain around here, and I am sure that I can find more relatives at Bangalore than in our district. But it wasn’t the case until a few years ago. The relatives were here and we could go to places with them. Nowadays, we still go to their houses at times, only two find the parents there who await the arrival of their children some day!

Plan Z: Home sweet home :: We call it Plan Z because it is the last plan. But it has been a usual plan for me during the last few months. There are not many friends left to go out with, and most of the time, the number remains a zero. So, the “home sweet home” option usually becomes the right choice. It is still a nice option to spend some time home with parents and the pet. After all, there is no other place like home, and there will be some nice movies on the television which can be watched together.

The images used in this blog post were taken by me on my Sony Cybershot DSC-W310.

What are the usual colours that one chooses for the inside and the outside of a house? Some people keep telling us to choose the light colours and that the best colour is white. They say that everyone is choosing white or similar colours and so we should also choose the same. One of my uncles had once said “as we are part of a society and because they are choosing light shades, we should also do the same”. I immediately told him that I won’t, and that felt good. Yes, for some people, copying others is the only known thing.

Most of the houses in Kerala are defined by one thing, about how to build a house like somebody else, with a bigger size. Every day, people think about how to make huge houses which are good enough to make a lot of pre-British kings of India shocked. There are so many big houses in Kerala, which makes one wonder if they build houses to take photos and videos instead of living. Some people make houses, but do they classify as homes? Is this copying of others and showing vanity the right thing?

Well, people will continue to do the same, because some people need to waste their money and the others will also get some housing loans. Having a big car and a big house determine just too many things. So, what we can change is the colour – we can at least choose different shades from our neighbours. Let me tell you something about my neighbourhood. Almost every house around here is white, and the remaining are all having some shade of yellow. No matter whose house they are, there is no variety here at all.

Even if we look at those churches, whether it is Catholic, Orthodox or some Pentecostal church, the colour is just white outside. That actually surprises me because it is usually the tomb which is whitewashed. Whenever I see something painted white, I feel a tomb – sorry Obama, that includes White House too. There got to be changes, and each building should have its own identity. There should be something special about each home, hall or place of worship.

Among all the available colours, I will choose red, because it is the colour of blood, and has high intensity. It is easily visible and its has a certain amount of energizing power. Blue is also my favourite colour, but for my room and the other bed rooms, red looks like the best choice. It should also be the colour outside, and the best would be the brick-red colour, because it gives an even better feeling. Actually my house is already painted red, and so the same colour works very well for me.

The blue shade comes to the picture in other rooms, especially the dining room and the main hall. I was checking the colour for this particular room, and it looked very good right there. It has to be the purple variant. There is something royal about it, and most of the blue shades actually gives a certain happy feeling. It brings the blue sky and the blue ocean, keeping one close to the feeling to wander around and at the same time, be happy. May be one bed room can also have the same colour or some other shade of blue.

The red is strength while blue is peaceful inspiration for me. Actually, the #PaintFinder feature from the Bed Bath and More website allows you to choose a colour and recreate your dreams. There is also the availability of preview in a virtual room. This will be nice option which makes sure that you make the right choice with colours. Lets paint something wild with all these available options and see the preview, so that we can know what awaits us, a long time before.

A house has many odours. If you take a list of all kinds of smell which you come against, it can go on and on with no end. If you ask me about my favourite fragrance, it would be related to tea. A few of my friends had given me that kind of tea which I could smell and feel; one from Kenya and Tanzania; the other from Assam and the Middle East. My cousin had earlier provided me with Yorkshire tea which had that beautiful aroma which I still miss.

Tea has always been my favourite fragrance at home. The kitchen has been also a source of the best smell for a long time, despite us eating from outside quite a lot. Mostly, they have been the ones which cannot be defeated, and you just have to fall into the pit of temptation to eat your favourite dish. Simona the Kitty knows that better as she knows which house in the locality has fish, beef or chicken. We are mostly vegetarian and buy separate food for her, but she knows the houses where fish is prepared and stares at that direction.

Talking about Simona the Kitty or the most valiant one, she is the one who knows what everybody is cooking! You can fool many people, but not her with the smell and the hearing ability as she listens to each footstep and knows each and every odour around. If I could ask someone about the odours of home, it would be her, but she is not interested in sharing the skills of her nose with the inferior humans, and so I have to deal with this, at least until she changes her decision.

Still in other cases, there is the bad smell which competes with the good ones. The former gives us that big challenge which we have to overcome. Often, it is not an easy task. Simona the Kitty used to do something that she should have done outside in the soil, inside the home occasionally. But with more time spent outside, and as we kept her there for a longer time, that problem was solved forever, and she has turned into the extra smart kitten.

The smell of fish has been the biggest challenge, and even when not having fish ourselves, the odour of the special fish food gravy bought for Simona the Kitty has been pretty bad. Thank God for the facility provided by Municipality for the waste disposal, it has been mostly solved. Our garden does have some flowers to help with the problem, but it is still an “upcoming garden” with not enough to deal with the same – still, we adjust with what we have.

We also have the air freshener to deal with the same and hope that the fragrance stays. We haven’t had many visitors in the last few months, but when they do, there is the need to keep them away from any possible bad odour. We have that bad feeling about smell when we visit some houses, and lets not have the others to feel the same about our home – it is surely not a proud thing.

When it is a wonderful day and something smells dreadful, the day is not that thing of wonder any more. When the house looks clean and awesome and still the bad odour stays, home is not that good as you expect it to be. For this, there is the need for the #SmellytoSmiley effect with the Ambi Pur Air Effects. The monsoon season has started, even though it doesn’t look that convincing the amount of rain received. Lets just make sure that nothing wet makes it smell bad!

***The image used in this blog post is from the Ambi Pur contest page at BlogAdda.

This post takes over the duty of celebrating the return of Simona the Kitty with her photos through the ages, one for each month, as she finishes half an year and gets into the seventh month at our home, a record for any cat with us. From the day she was found in the canal to the day she returned after being abducted, and to this day as she stays with us! Here are seven photos taken on my Sony Cybershot and Asus Zenfone 5 of Simona. Hope these photos will make you like her even more as she asks for love 😀

November 2014: First available photo; saved from canal.

December 2014: Simona’s exploration season.

January 2015: Searching for new limits.

February 2015: Evolution into a mighty hunter.

March 2015: While we were at Delhi.

April 2015: Quick and smart tree climber mode.

May 2015: Pathfinder as of earlier this month.

While I am having my exams, Simona the Kitty sends her greetings to all readers, and she hopes that you are all doing well as she is. She is smarter and faster than she has ever been, that is for sure. She is back at home to celebrate life as she used to, and also let’s hope that Simona Halep wins the French Open this time 😀 Happy Roland Garros, and may the lady with the same name as the kitty win this grand slam tournament on clay – may be this one’s return signifies the same.

The first few days of May had Simona the Kitty missing. We had a total of ten days without the sweetest and the cutest cat of this area. It was just a few days after her five month anniversary at our home that she went missing. There was no trace of her when we looked for her on a morning. She was there at night for sure, but there was no clue in the morning. Nobody around the neighbourhood had seen her. People did wonder why there was no “meow music” around though.

So we waited for her return for three or four days, but there was no clue. People said that she had to some place which had better food, but that was a lie because we gave her the best. Some of them said that she was going to come back, but we doubted the same because she was still a kitten and not a cat. There were others who said that she would have gone because we were too possessive about her, but it was actually her who never wanted to leave us.

Simona just a day before leaving home. She was indeed the curious one.

Then on the night of the tenth day, we were watching Ningalkum Aaakaam Kodeeswaran, the Malayalam version of Kaun Banega Crorepathi or Who Wants to be a Millionaire, and then a kitten darted into our living room in between the grills. It was Simona the Kitty making her return, and she directly went to hug the legs. She was afraid as her eyes said, and wouldn’t leave the legs. She was crying non-stop, and let all the neighbours know that she was back.
I wouldn’t believe that she went away from us though, as there are limits to the area which she wanders around.

Even if she was chased by a big cat or a dog which she came across while roaming around, she could have easily escaped by coming back home or at least returning after a day or two at least for food. But the ten day break doesn’t seem all right even for the wildest imaginations. She couldn’t have gone away by her own. I would guess that she was kidnapped by someone.

She might have been locked in someone’s house all these days, which should be why she didn’t return. Some random dirty guy might have taken her because she was so attached to the humans. She might have been taken and given to some family with kids where she was forced to stay. The same explains the loss of her collar because there is no other way by which she could have lost – it was locked, and therefore only a human could have removed it after abducting her.

Simona returning home on a night, ten days later.

The removal of the collar meant that people won’t identify her by the collar and they thought they could keep her there. But this is Simona and she had to return. She was small, but smart enough to make it back here. She had become so thin, and had gained fear, but had become smarter with the experience. Nowadays, she has become quicker and with better reflexes, and may be te journey might have changed her.

Let’s hope that cruel nature of humans won’t get to Simona the Kitty again and she remains with us throughout her life. The world is full of terrible humans and Simona has learnt it now, and from now on, she will surely be more careful about those creatures outside home. A cat’s heart should always be where the home is, and no matter what the evil humans do, hope that the members of the cat family always return or are always found and brought back home.

We have heard a lot that sharing is caring. But to what extent do we do that or rather put a limit on the same? The one place where we seem to think about that more than anything else is at those torrent sites! Then there is the kind of food which can’t be finished alone and we call for help. It is where the world of sharing has thrived better than most of the other occasions, but in this world where sharing first brings Facebook to the mind, there is the need to share further, far away from the world of modernity.

Sharing the load never naturally comes, because it needs some effort especially when someone is spending some random leisure time – men have that tendency to think it not as their job. As far as marriage is concerned, the biggest thing that it has achieved is to inspire Havells advertisements which comes up with fake advertisements talking about respect, but nothing really about sharing or having concern for the other half. People just want it easy, and not share the loads – it is just selfish nature.

There is too much inequality in houses when it is about the housework, and men and women need to #ShareTheLoad especially when both are working. It is not something like Interstellar which talks about something and people have smoke coming out of brains. This is just simple and should come right out of basic love and care for the other half. It is an act of love and concern and not something which can be taught.

Check out this initiative; you can feel it from their Ad photo! 🙂

Well, marriage is supposed to be halves becoming one, but how can that happen if there are no two equal halves? A half and a quarter in not one, and so in simple terms, it is not a good reflection of married life. It is the twenty-first century and the only way to equality seems to be reservation for some people. Then some people need reminders, and this need to be reminded of equality is another ridiculous situation.

If someone has to do the whole thing alone, it is a lot of work, but sharing can be fun. When not married, help the mother or sister. The mother will need it a lot as she is getting older and the father might still belong to a generation where women were not working and they were used to doing work at home only. He might find it difficult to follow, but not us who are beyond the same. It is up-to us to show a good example to our children also.

What we need to look out for is the future, and nowadays when both the man and the wife are working, there needs to be a lot of sharing, depending on the timings of their work – sometimes it might be the male who works more and at other times, it could be the female, and they need to share according to the demands of the time as there will be days when one of them will have some extra time and can make a better use of the same in this busy world. If one of them won’t have work for a period of time, it is easier for just one – otherwise no.

I would say that a certain amount of work at home can be some fun as long as the dose is kept in the right quantity, and for that, one has to be ready to #ShareTheLoad. Otherwise there would be the delay which can spoil the day for not just one person, but for the whole family. When we get the work get done faster, there will be time left to spend with each other, and the relationship only gets better – it is the success of the family as a unit! Now, lets just ask more people to #ShareTheLoad.

February 28th is the celebration of the three month anniversary of finding Simona the Kitty. It would be another day of awesome tea party. I feel that the cats should celebrate birthdays every month as they are with us for such shorter time. Reaching home on the day of the release of the Malayalam movie Angels, Simona the Valiant Cat plays many roles here at her home, and lets see what her major programs are, on these days.

1. The Leg Hugger: Simona is a consistent leg hugger. It is almost impossible to avoid getting hugged by her. She will hide under the bed, table or even at a place with the lowest possibilities to hug your leg with a quick pounce and surprise. Yes, it is not permanent. She takes breaks between each hugs, and sometimes the procedure is very long, as she stays on the leg trying to give a leg shake. May be she actually wants to hug a tree, but there is none indoors.

So you know I hug legs. I am so cute, so give me your leg or I shall take it 😛

2. The Ball Finder: You can’t hide the ping-pong ball from her; you can only keep trying. She will find it and she will start kicking it, unless you keep it very high or lock it. She is becoming more and more fond of the orange colour and her football skills with the ping-pong ball might give her a chance in a possible future Kitty ISL. May be when you name her after an awesome tennis player, you have to expect something like that 😀

I can find anything. No matter what you do to hide, I shall find all the treasures 😀

3. The Spider Slayer: She punches the spiders whenever she finds them. It is a left right left punch which she has mastered. I am hoping for that to be added to the next video game of Mortal Kombat. Last time, she tried that with a cockroach, I had to throw the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary on it to finally finish it off, but she is making a good attempt despite having a basic non-violent nature 😛

The hunter is ready here. Do show me all spiders, lizards and cockroaches.

4. The Wire Puller: She just can’t stand those snake-like creatures called wires. She finds her mortal enemy there and bring all of them down. So, let your mobile charger cable come down even a little. There is a mighty hunter down there looking for some snake dance. No matter where she finds it or of what kind, she can hunt it down. It is a special skill that she has acquired.

This is my personal mobile charger. Find another one for yourself, human.

5. The Lap Jumper: You are watching the Malayalam version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire or Kaun Banega Crorepathi and then she jumps on your lap and watches the television. She would sit there as Queen Simona. I don’t think that Suresh Gopi or Amitabh Bachchan would mind that though. She would wait there until enough massage is received or watching the television won’t be very easy 😀

At the same time, the lady whose name our kitty has borrowed, Simona Halep also becomes the first woman player to win two big tennis tournaments this year with the recently concluded Dubai Open. She regains the world no.3 and looks good to go further. As the last year’s finalist in this clay’s own slam, I hope that she improves on that and wins the French Open this time.

The adventures of Simona continues as her world remains special. I have recently found two kittens of her same size wandering around in the neighbouring streets and I think that they are her brethren who left her under the canal and saved themselves leaving her to take care of herself. But she did find us, and the other two kittens, one black and white with more black than Simona and the other one being an orange tabby kitten, both hostile to humans.

The two other kitten kept running away, and yes I did give a try there. Those little ones had chosen the option to run away from human contact unlike Simona who apreciated and enjoyed it. May be they hadn’t had a good experience with the humans as Simona did after being dumped by the same evil humans. I hope that they also grow up to be awesome cats and not go under any vehicles, as I do care for Simona’s family 😀

As I am pretty awesome, I expect this orange ball to come to me when I lie down 😀

Yes, it is confirmed that there were three kittens of the canal, and Simona being the lone abandoned one who found us. That day, November 28th changed many things for us as well as Simona the Lionhearted. But the same can’t be said about the other two kittens. But they can only blame themselves for the same, as they had chosen the other path. But that should be what scared kittens do first.

I demand a new ball. This doesn’t even come close to meeting my quality standards 😀

The others were the smarter and the more active ones, and left their poor little sister who was smaller than them in the canal, making their way to their own safe houses – the fact remains that I have found them at the exact opposite sides, and may be we can make a movie later – Amar, Akbar and Antonia (Simona) with them uniting on another day in Bollywood style, after lots of songs and stunts.

I think I jumped into the wrong place. I should stop jumping everywhere 😀

Yes, Simona has her new family now, and the others seem to be the wanderers of the dark world these days. The achievement of Simona is that she waited and waited until she found us. May be she was shocked by her disposal and loneliness and didn’t move from there, but good things come to those who wait, and Simona seems to know things. Nowadays, she is growing fast, with those cat-food with nutrients. She would always love the natural local fish, but she and food has a fine love story.

Simona’s agility has increased a lot nowadays. She can go through the whole house so fast, and can even push and open those doors which are half-closed. It is not easy to sleep without completely closing the doors these days. Her ability to sense us from even a distance makes sure that we have to keep quite some time for her. She can jump distances, and so she always finds a way to get to us.

I am still open to your suggestions about the future of Simona, and any suggestions about raising the kitten. She is slowly transforming into the big cat that she should be, and any tips about having a cat at home is always welcome. After all, this is the first long time kitten for us, and we hope to have her with us for a long time. May the kitty power thrive and do wonders to the world 😀 *All the photos used in this blog post were taken on my Sony Cybershot DSC-W310 and Samsung Galaxy Duos.

It was last month that I wrote about the cat that used to visit our home. Zeezee (https://theteacerebration.wordpress.com/2014/11/06/zeezee-the-oracle/) was there for not more time, as she seemed weak on one day and refused to eat anything. But she was also reluctant to make anyone touch, and was ready with her claws to keep everyone away. One day, she just went missing. There has been no sign of her for weeks, and it was depressing. It was certain that she was not coming back. But God surely knows how to bring surprises and fill the void at the right moment.*All photos used in this blog post were taken on my Sony Cybershot DSC-W310.

November 28th was quite a big day. It had the release of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 and Penguins of Madagascar here. But no, those were not the big things on the day. I returned home in the evening after watching two Malayalam movies, Mathai Kuzhappakkaranalla and Angels back to back, and after parking my Honda Dio, went back to close the gate to listen to a meow sound. I looked near the wall and beyond the gate to find nothing there. I even looked inside the walls of the neighbours to find nothing. *Clue: Note the movie name: Angels 😀

See who was waiting in the canal to be rescued? Look at the smile there 😀

Then I looked into the canal to see a cute face looking up and crying. It was a little kitten mostly white in colour. It increased the volume of the cries after seeing me. The situation seemed that it was abandoned there and had nowhere to go as the nature had created walls all around it in a canal which was not cleaned for quite a long time. It was also that part of the canal which had seen more snakes than most of the other similar places in the area. It was scared, and it wanted a way out. But the problem was that it had absolutely no idea about what to do, and it was too small and not used to be alone.

I shall hide behind this blue globe of domination and try to be cool and awesome.

I wondered how to get it out of there. There was no way for me to get in there. The presence of the snakes was evident, and the path down was steep. I could only jump down there and stay with it. The only way that I could get it up was to go down there, get caught in the canal and call fireforce to help. Nobody really bothered about a kitten being caught in the canal in a busy world. It was certain to die there, but that was of no significance for anybody. We were new to the place and didn’t know anyone who could help.

Come on humans of the ISL, I can score better goals with my ping-pong ball.

Then the miracle happened. I was looking at the mobile phone and wondering who could help, only to get no idea about it. All of a sudden, the kitten started increasing its voice and started trying to come to me by climbing up all by itself. It fell down twice, but the third time, it came almost all the way up and when it was almost there, I pulled it up and took it home. I understood that this one was a fighter, and it was destined to come to our home and it is by fate that we are bound. There is no better relationship than what is brought together by the power of destiny.

Can I play a game of football with you? Can we do the Ping-pong ISL please? 😉

It spent the rest of time on my right leg and quickly had the tea that I shared from my cup. I was surprised about how happy it seemed. Then it slowly went into an area which was to become its personal area, and started taking a nap to wake up to the smell of fish. It knew where its home really is, and it is where the heart stays now. This is the story of the beautiful kitten that came home and stayed. But this is surely not the end of this story, and it goes on and on.

I didn’t do it. This is a clear case of suicide. He was always a suicidal toy 😛

After thinking about it, I decided to name it not after Agnieszka Radwanska, but after Simona Halep, because my parents voted against the shock which was that name which couldn’t be pronounced. Simona was going to be interesting because the “SI” sound always had its attention, and we could call her SI-MO in short. Now Simona’s special needs include appam, pan-cake, a ping-pong ball, a pen and a place on the lap – that special place being the only thing that can stop her from playing unless she is tired. She was Simona of the Canal, and now she is Simona the Lionhearted 😉

British History? If I eat it, can I graduate in both English and History? How’s the taste?

We ask for many things in this world. Isn’t cleanliness among them? My hope is that it will be a basic requirement soon, and people will get to realize the same. During my earlier visit to Singapore, I did wonder if India can one day have the same cleanliness. I wondered about what they had that India didn’t. I have found the state of Kerala cleaner as a whole, but never really steady in its cleanliness, especially these days as waste is indeed being thrown on the side of the roads.All photos used here were taken on my Sony Cybershot DSC W310 except for the one mentioned otherwise.

What is it that a beautiful country needs? It is not the tourist attractions, because nature and history has already provided the same as long as they are not vandalized. What every nation needs is cleanliness, as it is very important for the health and hygiene of the citizens of the nations as well as the visitors. Without good sanitation, we can’t say that we are good hosts and follow the policy of “Athithi Devo Bhava”. Yes, some people might think that we are awesome hosts just because there is a phrase about it, but the real fact is that we have to work on it.

Is it fair towards the animals? I don’t think so.

The first thing that can come to some people might be to act that they should try to create a show for the others, acting as if trying to clean, just because it is the trend. No, you are not doing any favour to the nation by doing so. The first thing to do is to keep your house and premises clean, and then your neighbourhood area. It is how the whole thing should begin. Haven’t we all heard about the saying “charity begins at home”? Well, so does the health and hygiene – we can’t make the society any better without changing ourselves, can we?

Our responsibility to our nation begins at home. Whatever we do at home is significant, even as not many people are aware of what we do in our room or on the backside of our house. It is what we practice at home that we take to the world outside. It is our actions between our own that is reflected even when we are outside and nobody is looking. Yes, this has to start with oneself, and not with a bigger group. If you walk around a broom and keep your house untidy, you are to blame despite what show you can come up with in the public.

Kitty caught in what humans litter (taken on my Galaxy Duos)

We have polluted our world, made it terrible for many creatures of nature, and it is all because we don’t care much. With that pollution, we have spread diseases, and these begin when we don’t care about waste disposal. Check all those rivers; are they any cleaner than they used to be? So much waste has been thrown into the rivers, and it is almost impossible to drink directly from there days or even clean. Even the holy rivers are not spared. This proves that clean India doesn’t mean that we should dispose our waste anywhere.

Yes, we have people who get rid of their waste by throwing it to the properties of others. We also have those who put their waste anywhere when nobody is looking. They are no lesser evil than those big industries which pollute our air as well as water, some of them even directly causing deadly diseases to humans and killing off a lot of creatures and plants. It is a need to raise our voice against these practices, but only when we keep cleanliness in our own home that we are worthy of the same, and it is what we should strive for.

This should be applicable everywhere, but why is that we need signs?

This blog post is written in relation to Dettol NDTV Banega Swachh India campaign in association with Indiblogger, and it is a much needed move towards a better India. Please check http://swachhindia.ndtv.com/ for more details, and lets contribute to making and keeping our nation clean not as something which we are forced to do, but as a part of our lives as a duty towards our nation and the fellow countrymen.

This initiative is a program to address the rising need of hygiene and sanitation in India. It will try to create awareness about the same, and will also work for construction and maintenance of toilets. The brand ambassador is none other than Big B – Amitabh Bachchan. NDTV Dettol – Banega Swachh India bus is supposed to cover about four hundred villages across eight Indian states – Haryana, Rajasthan, UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, MP and Maharashtra. With the same, they will create awareness around hygiene and sanitation through a number of ways which can connect the best with the common man.

It has been just two months since we moved to our new home – our own renovated house after leaving the life at the flat behind. It has been exactly two months and five days, and I have to say that I am extremely happy to be at this new home, which is a lot better than how I thought a very old home could have been converted into. But is in no way, my dream home, and I am going to visualize one right now with items from Porcelanosa. All the images are from http://www.porcelanosa.com/ where you can check for further details.

I am going to begin with the house that I have, and for the same, the first thing should be the tiles for the floor. My choice here would be Slate which has an impressive and natural look which is my first choice for the floor. It is something that my parents would never allow, but there is nothing like standing on something that looks natural and I would say that there is a certain amount of antiquity associated with it – here is Pizara Kathmandu Pulido that comes to that picture. I would choose natural wood for the sit-out and the balcony area though (Classic Ebano Luxor), as it gives a certain kind of royal look.

Wall tiles are a must to add to the variety, and it is surprising that a good number of houses don’t have the same. For the same, I would add STON-KER wall tiles because I doubt anything else could give the right look for my home. With space left in there for the books, it would look fantastic on my wall. I would just need to find a complimenting paint, and the combination should be pretty much amazing.

The kitchen choice would be the G975 KRION / Ukola model – it looks so simple and elegant, and so neat; we don’t really have that kind of relatives who can keep it neat, but we can always handle that, can’t we? One thing is sure, that people would love to eat there, and the taste of food won’t matter that much as long as we have such an impressive design for kitchen. Do check for the Monomando Nantes taps in the list, it is the perfect tap choice for me.

Then there is the need for furniture; look at this for a dining room, inspiring people to have more of dinner. With Dreams KRION table and Curve Roble Blanco Cal chairs – notice the simplicity, and yet it looks better than the huge dining table and the curved chairs that we have at home – it is not size that matters, as it is the simplicity and usefulness that should define the place that we choose to have our food.

For the bathroom, I take the Victorian Single bathtub to satisfy my love for the Victorian literature and style which I admire the most. It looks so impressive that we can use that for a period drama movie. I would choose mosaic for the walls, and it would be Mini Iris Stone Whites. For showers, I choose the Essence-C set combining modernity with antiquity. Essence-C works nicely for the combination too, as it seems to be the best sanitaryware I can choose for now – wish there was something like that in our local shops. I am also adding the Mood accessories to the list because they would look nice sticking out from the mosaic.

Then look at the wardrobe setting for Natura Roble Marengo / Lino Cancún Textil – it is something like what I should have right now; even though I might not use that for the same purpose at it is made, but it is extremely useful and stylish as one can notice from its looks. I have never seen something like that before, that is for sure. It is the perfect choice for a great bedroom. It is not just a bedroom anymore, but a customized world – it is multi-purpose as far as I am concerned.

This much should be enough for me, and for the rest, I can manage with what I already have. *Part of the Happy Hours campaign from Porcelanosa in association with Indiblogger for the topic “Pick as many items as you can from Porcelanosa to build your dream home. Tell us why you chose them and why”. For more details, please do check at http://www.24kliving.com/

There is something about not being an Aluvaite. There is not much about leaving from a land plagued by potholes and disturbed by the Metro construction. It just adds to that harthal which devastates the state from where there is no escape. But forgetting all the troubles which are not really the part of Aluva alone, and missing being part of the same place is another thing. Forgetting having no more friends in the lands and no more of anyone to talk is rather the product of that engineering experiment to which our students have agreed, the result being more engineers than coconuts and all of them exported to Bangalore or Chennai.

The river Periyar which covers most of the town (taken on my DSC-W310)

The first part of not being an Aluvaite is not being UCean, talked about here : (https://theteacerebration.wordpress.com/2014/08/29/uc-as-in-you-see-and-mgu/). Not being part of the college had already happened earlier, but being not at Aluva adds more distance. Union Christian College, Alwaye comes as part of the town and it has been defined as one of the few things that define the muncipality, along with the Federal Bank, Sivarathri Manappuram and the Marthanda Varma Bridge. Therefore, UC College is the first thing to missed while leaving Aluva. For Sivarathri, we can always come here, and not travelling through the bridge is actually a boon considering the potholes – for Federal Bank, I am still a customer 😀

St. Joseph Pontifical Seminary & the church (DSC-W180)

The Aluvaite effect is kind of lessened when you are living in a flat – the feeling of living in a house being taken away for about fourteen years, and never in between those years getting that opportunity to feel really at a house except for may be at some of those tourst destinations. When you live somewhere with rules against playing cricket and football, plus the need to stop any kind of entertainment at 9PM, it gives the feeling of being in a totalitarian state which stretches its arms towards further control. There might be celebrations for Onam and New Year, but who cares anymore?

Siva Temple & Aluva Manappuram (DSC-W310)

Everyone wanted to play cricket and football and the replacement is badminton. But would the kids want to play that? No. Are there any old people who wish to play it? No. Can we ask any of the working people to come and play before 9PM? No, they won’t even reach home at that time. What is this other than an intelligent plot to stop people from having fun along with some exercise? Is it because the fascists can’t do that, the kids shouldn’t also do that? Should they just play the computer games and study during the rest of the time? Yes, create a video game playing, internet addicted future generation.

St. Xavier’s Church in the centre of the town (DSC-W310)

Now, what were these games for us? Were they just about doing something because we had lots of time? No, it was a place for socializing; for they were not just games. I have met more people while indulging in sports rather than being in a boring meeting talking about why we are so awesome and planning for some boring fake celebrations which are conducted. Nobody really cares about this dumb repetition every year, and some people just act as if they do. There is no real effort put into it, and we have a new generation not caring about the same, because it is what some people want, and youth wants no part of it.

UCC. The wonder that is a college (GT-B7722)

It is clear that most of the people don’t know anybody, even their own neighbours. We all know that person who gets out of the nearby door and comes back in. But who on the Earth are these people? Did they drop right out of hell last day with the expression that says “move out of the way or I will deliver you a clothesline”. So many families; we know a lot of them when we are a small group, but as the gang increases in number and diversifies, we ends up knowing none. There was only one cat that cared, but it got run over by a car.

Marthanda Varma Bridge. Defining Aluva (DSC-W310)

Can we be confident about the fact that it will be any better at a new place? No and it can be even worse, but we will live in a house, and when we are bored, we can always take care of a garden, and there won’t be the need to listen to that grilling which happens every day at some random rich guy’s flat who does that too often. What are you building? A Taj Mahal – Victoria Memorial hybrid? Who cares about this bloody bourgeoisie who thinks that money can get them anything; but no, not respect, unless you live like you deserve it. I see that most of the good people have moved or are going to move from our neighborhood – I will miss many good things about Aluva and my best friends were indeed from here, but add me to the list.